“Montanans aren’t going to be fooled by Brian Schweitzer and a bunch of Washington, DC politicians that want to hand over control of our water to federal bureaucrats,” Eaton said. “He’s talking out of both sides of his mouth and you can bet we’re going to make sure voters know about it.”
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1 Joel // May 30, 2008 at 8:57 pm
Bravo Mr. Schweitzer, way to stand up for the state you’re hardly in. He brings up some interesting points. He keeps repeating that farmers and ranchers don’t want the federal government extending their ‘long arm’ into their business, but they do want the federal government’s help in assuring clean water. After talking to some involved in Montana agriculture, from the valley of Helena to the plains of the Highline, and none of them want the federal government involved at all. The new legislation would create unnecessary regulations and paperwork that the landowners would have to spend time understanding. This is time they don’t need to be spending on such a menial task. Brian also mentions that those in agriculture are worried about old mines high in the mountains. These are the mines high in the mountains that the current Clean Water Act covers; if they are already covered, I don’t believe the agriculture members are really concerned about them. I am led to believe that they are more concerned about being able to use the water in the rivers. Due to years of draught, many of the farmers and ranchers were heavily restricted in their water usage. The restrictions ended up costing many ranchers great deals of money in lost livestock. While water conservation is important to the state (as an avid fly fisherman, I understand this), heavy restrictions on water usage is the number one water-related concern of agriculture. Remember, dihydrogen monoxide can be very dangerous, be safe out there!
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